Having long hair is a desire that many naturals have. This could be for many reasons. Some people just prefer the look of long natural hair, others yearn for the versatility of styles you can do with longer hair whereas others want to grow their hair fast simply because shrinkage is the damn devil and want to see length even with shrinkage. In this blogpost we will be discussing ways to grow your natural hair fast.
Whatever the reason, many of us have resorted to YouTube University to discover ways to quickly grow our hair, only to meet clickbait videos of people preaching that you can grow your hair overnight using rice water, egg and olive oil, onion juice, etc.
The science of hair growth is very controversial. Many people say that there is no way to increase hair growth whereas some experts say that it is very possible to do this. In this blog post, I will present to you scientifically-backed ways to grows your hair!
Many key factors contribute to hair growth including genetics, lifestyle and diet. Hair grows by an average of ½ an inch per month, but there are certain methods you can do to speed up this growth. These include maintaining a clean and healthy scalp and stimulating the scalp using essential oils and maybe scalp massages. Length retention is also key in maintaining your new growth.
Hair grows from the scalp so that’s what we’ll be focusing on in this post, but be sure to check out my blog post on methods to retain length to keep all the new growth you’ll get once you apply everything you learned from this blog post!
Genetics: The hair growth cycle
As we’re talking about hair growth, it’s only right that we begin by discussing genetics as the rate of hair growth is determined by our genes.
So how does hair grow?
Hair grows in a growth cycle consisting of three stages… the anagen phase, the catagen phase, and finally the telogen phase.
Anagen
This is the active phase of the hair cycle, where the cells in your hair roots are dividing rapidly for your hair to grow an average ½ an inch a month.
This active phase lasts anytime between 2 to 7 years. The longer your anagen phase, the longer your hair can grow.
The majority of your hair is in this active growth stage.
In general, the longer the anagen phase, the longer your hair can grow
Catagen
The catagen phase begins as soon as the anagen phase ends. It is the transition period between the anagen and telogen phase where the hair growth slows down as the hair follicle shrinks.
Approximately 3% to 5% of your hair will be in this stage and lasts for around 10 days.
Telogen
In this stage, your hair stops growing completely and around 50 to 100 strands of hair in the telogen phase are shed daily.
The telogen phase for approximately 3 months and around 10% to 15% of your hair are in this stage.
Now that we know how hair grows we can talk about ways to regulate this hair growth cycle as well as ways to potentially increase hair growth.
1. Clean your scalp
Wash your damn scalp. That’s one of the important rules for growing your hair. Wash your damn scalp. Product build-up or the overproduction of sebum by the sebaceous glands can clog the pores in your scalp which can hinder hair growth.
The solution to this problem is quite simple but it’s something that many naturals (especially the die-hard fans of the curly-girl method) avoid. Clean your scalp with SHAMPOO. Not co-washes, not apple cider vinegar, not baking soda, but shampoo.
Shampoo.
Another solution is to stop oiling your scalp excessively or adding products that are meant for your hair strands to your scalp such as creams and conditioners.
2. Essential Oils
Essential oils are concentrated plant extracts with strong chemical properties that can be beneficial for your hair. Although not extensive, studies have shown that these chemical properties can help aid with increasing the rate of hair growth.
How they work
- Terpenes – Essential oils contain a molecule called terpenes which are easily absorbed deep into the scalp to your blood vessels. They stimulate your hair follicles and increase hair growth! Essential oils with high concentrations of terpenes include peppermint oil, tea tree oil.
- Menthol – Some essential oils like tea tree oil and peppermint oil contain high amounts of the chemical menthol, which is a vasodilator (makes blood vessels wider). This increases blood supply to the hair shaft.
- Prostaglandin E2 fat molecules – The application of certain essential oils e.g. rosemary oils, help to increase the production of prostaglandin E2 fat molecules. According to studies these molecules help increase hair growth.
Essential oils are very concentrated so you must not apply them directly to your skin or hair. They must be first be diluted in carrier oils, which are your regular oils such as olive oil, jojoba oil, castor oil, etc. Apply the mixture to your scalp once a week to gain fast natural hair growth.
A good dilution is a maximum of 3% in total of essential oils in a carrier oils.
3. Scalp Massages
Ahh finally we reached scalp massages. This is a popular hair growth remedy within the natural hair community, with many of us having been told that massaging our scalp and doing the inversion method will significantly increase our hair growth.
So let’s get into the science behind scalp massages and see if they actually work…
Well, scalp massages are believed to increase the blood flow to your hair follicles through vasodilation, which in turn supplies more nutrients to your scalp and increases hair growth.
A 2019 study showed that out of 340 participants, 69% of people reported that their alopecia improved after regular scalp massages. Another study conducted in 2016 stated that was no significant change in hair growth after doing regular scalp massages. However the study only had 9 participants and they were not doing massaging their scalp as frequently as the people in the other study.
The science is not conclusive as more research needs to be done but honestly, you do not always have to wait for science to catch up to try out something new! Try massaging your scalp daily for a month and measure your hair before and after this period. Later compare this to your regular hair growth. You never know… you may see some significant growth 🙂 There are countless anecdotes of fast natural hair growth with scalp massages!
4. Diet + why hair vitamins don’t work
As you guys probably already know, a healthy and balanced diet is the key to hair growth.
Something that some of you may not know is that our hair is not considered a vital “organ.” This means that if you’re not receiving sufficient nutrients from your diet, your hair will be one of the first to be neglected.
So don’t be eating takeaway everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then complain that your hair is not growing 😉
Include a balance of fruit, vegetables, proteins and fats in your diet to receive the necessary nutrients for your natural hair growth. So instead of going to straight to hair vitamins, eat healthy. This is not just good for your hair but also for your body.
Also, sorry to bust this myth but hair vitamins generally do not work in accelerating hair growth. Notice how they’re only promoted by celebrities and influencers and not health professionals. Hmmmm…. This is because health professionals state that hair vitamins are only effective in people diagnosed with serious nutrient deficiencies.
Again, I’m sorry.
Oh and don’t forget to drink your water 😉
Final Words
So, I hope you’ve learnt something from this blog post.
To summarise, the key to growing long natural hair fast hair growth starts with a healthy and clean scalp, along with eating a healthy diet. To increase the rate of hair growth, scalp stimulation will help with this, and that’s where the essential oils and scalp massages come in.
These tips are suitable for all hair types, including 4a, 4b and 4c hair!
